Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden are coming our way this summer. Make no mistake, this is big news, and not a mere nostalgia trip for for those of us who were in high school or entering college 20 years ago. The announcement of a tour featuring a co-headlining double bill of Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden would've been the equivalent of an entire Lollapalooza lineup (the touring Perry Farrell version, not the current-day ACL Fest replica). In fact, its tough to imagine that such a show wouldn't have filled the dearly imploded Texas Stadium back in 1996. Both bands were in their commercial, critical and artistic primes in the handful of years following Kurt Cobain's suicide when the Hooties and their collective Blowfishes bro-roamed the earth with surprising, devastating force.
Thankfully, it seems as though the alleged feud between Reznor and Cornell from a few years ago after Cornell put out a crappy album Reznor really didn't like is over, because here we are now, and the announcement of a summer tour featuring both bands is official.
Few will argue the most recent efforts of either act (NIN's under-appreciated Hesitation Marks from 2013 and Soundgarden's solid King Animal from 2012) closely rival the landmark works from their respective golden eras, but there's also no argument to be made that Trent Reznor and Chris Cornell on the same bill equals two of hard rock's best frontmen of the past several decades.
Both can still wail and scream with a force few young, angst-ridden Warped Tour toddlers can. Regardless of how long these vets have been at it, this show is certain to be a brutal, sweaty gig and much more than a trip down an industrial- and grunge-tinted memory lane. With the menacing Death Grips opening almost all dates, parents and children alike can be moody together under the Texas heat and stars.
The tour starts on July 19 and hits Gexa Energy Pavilion in Dallas on August 17. Tickets go on sale this Friday, with a pre-sale starting tomorrow, the 18th.
